By Dr. Sayed Ziauddin
JEDDAH — ALJ Toshiba defeated GBest IDB by 6 wickets as Crown Blue thrashed Al-Mazroi Salonpas by 61 runs in the WPCA Summer Morning Tournament semifinals here.
GBest IDB, put into bat, posted 155 for 9. Khalid scored 19 and Rizwan 37 to take the score to 51. It was a decent start but once the opening partnership was broken, it lost wickets in a heap to be tottering at 74 for 3. It failed to rise from the shock. Ali Mohsen stroked 23, Adeel 20 and Waseem 13. Nasir took 3-27, Amir 2-14, Israr 2-29, Aftab Khan 1-28 and Bilal 1-32.
ALJ Toshiba, in chase, was in a hurry to finish off the game in style. Opener Azeem blasted 22 in the first over. Azeem hammered 40, while Basheer hit an unbeaten 83 off 43 balls with 11 fours and a six. He added 75 in 47 balls with Bilal (23). A wicket each was claimed by Mudassir Iqbal (1-21), Quddus (1-33), Khalid (1-14) and Adil (1-22). Basheer of ALJ Toshiba was named the Man of the Match. The game was supervised by Sohail Shah and Shareefuddin.
In the other semifinal, Crown Blue posted 177 for 7. Saqib Butt played a responsible innings of 62 in 30 balls. He added 72 with veteran Arif Jutt (20) after Tasleem (8) returned early. The Steelmen were then reduced to 128 for 7 from 102 for 1. Faiz then hit an unbeaten 27, Shafeeq 23 and Waseem 17. Abdullah scalped 3-19, Sohail 2-13 and Faisal Patel 1-41.
Al-Mazroi Salonpas, in reply, lost wickets at frequent intervals to be stranded at 116 for 9 and lose by 61 runs. Salman made 12, Farooq 19, Imran Topia 17 and Mohsin 31. Saleem Mehar was the pick of the bowlers to claim 4-35, Saqib Butt took 2-24, Qurban 2-12 and Waseem 1-12.
Saqib Butt was adjudged the Man of the Match for his 62 runs and 2 wickets. The match was officiated by international umpire Rahat Choudhry and Kashif Mirza.
In the three matches played in Week 1, Phase I, of the new season the results were as follows:
AGA 136 all out (Luqman 4-27 and hat trick) lost to Al-Kabbani Cricket Group 138 for 2 in 76 balls (Imran Qaiser 55).
Apex Express 156 for 8 beat Brasa De Brazil 152 all out (Rafeeq 5-22).
Kashmir Strikers 242 for 4 (Awais 106, Usman 57) beat NNG Sports 127 all out (Sohail 4-22).
